Zechariah 11

Restoration of Judah and Israel (cont’d from Chapter 10)

1-3 Open your doors, Lebanon; Wail, oh cypress and oaks of Bashan, for you will be destroyed. Listen to the wail of the shepherds [Jewish leaders/elders] and the roar of the lions [princes of Judah] over the loss of their glory and the destruction of the thickets of the Jordan. Though the New Revised Standard Version sub-titles this the “Restoration of Judah and Israel,” both Jamieson, Fausset and Brown and Matthew Henry say this refers to the latter time when the temple is destroyed for a second time in 70 AD, marking the official end of Old Testament Judaism. The mention of cypress and oak refers to the destruction of the temple, which was made of these woods.

4-17 Two Kinds of Shepherds

4-6 God tells Zechariah to shepherd a flock doomed to slaughter, whose shepherds stand by watching as they are killed. For this reason, says God, I will have no pity on earth’s inhabitants but will watch them fall into the hands of their neighbors and king.

7-14 So Zechariah takes two staffs, named Favor [KJV “Beauty”] and Unity [KJV “Bands”], and tends the sheep. He disposes of three shepherds within a month. Then he breaks Favor, annulling his covenant with the people. He receives his wages, 30 shekels of silver, and throws it into the temple treasury [KJV “to the potter”]. Then he breaks Unity, annulling family ties between Judah and Israel. John Gill identifies these three shepherds as the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown identify them as

John, Simon, and Eleazar, three leaders of factions in the Jewish war.

Matthew Henry suggests they are either the princes, priests and scribes or prophets or the Pharisees, Sadducees and Herodians. The 30 shekels of silver surely refers to the price of betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot (Matthew 27:9-10)

15-17 God tells Zechariah to take the implements of a worthless shepherd, who does not care for his helpless sheep but devours the fat ones. Then he condemns the worthless shepherd. In my mind, this most likely refers to the Jewish leaders whose responsibility was to protect their flock but instead looked to what they thought were their own best interests. Matthew Henry:

The idol shepherd has the garb and appearance of a shepherd, receives submission, and is supported at much expense; but he leaves the flock to perish through neglect, or leads them to ruin by his example. This suits many in different churches and nations, but the warning had an awful fulfilment in the Jewish teachers. And while such deceive others to their ruin, they will themselves have the deepest condemnation.